108 . HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



by the queen are lost. CohlTds mmt he built to hold both 

 honey and eggs. Fovthe' first two or three days, the 

 greater part of the honey gathered is eaten by the bees 

 with' a view to secrete wax' for comb-building, which goes 

 on with marvellous rapidity. Liebig thinks that it takes 

 20 lb. of honey to make 1 lb. of wax ; but let us suppose 

 that 2 lb. of wax is manufactured from 20 lb. of honey. 

 Now, in good-sized hives there are about 2 lb. of wax. 

 We have known a swarm fill, or nearly fill, its hive vnth 

 combs, and gain about 28 lb. weight in ten days. What 

 a stupendous amount of work these young colonists per- 

 formed in ten days ! Young swarms work harder, appar- 

 ently, than older ones. 



2d, The combs of swarms are clear and free from a 

 superabundance of farina or bee -bread; therefore the 

 cakes of brood will yield a young bee from every cell, 

 making the hatch of the swarm considerably larger than 

 the old hive. By the end of the season a swarm is much 

 more populous than the other which we have been com- 

 paring with it. Even a second swarm, in honey years, 

 will sometimes pull itself abreast the stock or mother 

 hive, with a weight of 30 lb. to gain. 



By swarming we double and often treble the number 

 of our hives annually, and therefore have two or three 

 queens laying instead of one. By-and-by it will be seen 

 more clearly how invaluable these additional swarms are 

 to a bee-keeper ; and, therefore, the superiority of the 

 swarming system over the non-swai-ming one. 



3d, By the adoption of the swarming mode of manage- 

 ment we can change our stock of hives every year ; that 

 is to say, we can set aside one of the swarms for stock, 

 and take the honey from the old one and other swarm, 

 and thus our stock is full of new sweet combs, and free 

 from foul brood, which is a great advantage. ISTo hive 



